Third day, people are still viewing so I will keep posting; thanks. Today Merton lays a big one on us:
"The whole landscape, unified by the church and its heavenward spire, seemed to say: this is the meaning of all created things: we have been made for no other purpose than that men may use us in raising themselves to God, and in proclaiming the glory of God. We have been fashioned, in all our perfection, each according to his own nature, and all our natures ordered and harmonized together, that man's reason and his love might fit in this one last element, this God given key to the meaning of the whole." Pg 37
The background here is Thomas' father has come home and taken him back to France. They settle in a small French town with a church in the center of the town. Thomas describes that visually the church dominates everything in the town, all roads lead to it. When he is hiking in the hills and looks towards the town it is the church he sees.
This
statement really spoke to me. I could probably spend a week on it. One
of St Loyola's tenets is that God is found in all things. I think that
Merton is beautifully summarizing the thought that all creation is
there for man to use to praise God. The Pope's encyclical on the
environment, Laudato Si speaks to this. Anything man creates or
does should be to help proclaim the glory of God. This obviously
doesn't happen but that is what we should strive for. What a great
world this would be if everyone tried this for one day! Baby steps my
friends, baby steps.
My prayer for today is; Lord, help me to remember that the earth is a gift to be cherished. Give me wisdom and strength so that all I use and all I do will be done to give glory to You today. Amen
Pax
Joe
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